Show your new tool arrivals

[Squankum]

Made my first Matco purchase today, picked up the low profile 3/8 metric sockets. They even happened to be on sale! I know I could have got them cheaper from Astro but I'm not a fan of laser etching and kind like them better in chrome.



They have normal socket detents and not a hole like the impact variants so not just chrome plated.



Most already guessed but they are made in Taiwan.



I got a free toque with my purchase.

"Made in Taiwan to MATCO specifications", the long-distance international phone call:

"Could you make them very good?"

"Yes."

"But for not too much money?"

"Of course."

"Thanks, dude."

 

[Squankum]

There are several listings on eBay for under $40 and even a few under $30, so I guess I should've shopped a little harder haha!

Dang! Must be the result of various Lowe's blowouts of FACOM Craftsman stuff about a year ago. (Cynic hat on) Or shoplifting.

 

[Squankum]

A few more small essentials for my new homeowner son
Lowe’s
Craftsman Standard Utility Knife $7.48
Irwin Vice-Grip 7” $17.98
Warner Painter’s Tool &8.48
Northern Tool
Knipex 10” Alligator Water Pump Pliers $31.88

Make sure to point out that the painter's tool is known as a "5 in 1" so technically you're giving him 8 tools!

 

[Snip's]

The generator / alternator on my JD 330 Garden tractor has been having spotty issues charging the battery...
I suspect the main terminal connector block may have some corrosion on the spade connectors...
I ordered up the WURTH Diamond Grip terminal cleaner... Not cheap, but seemingly well made...
Cheaper knockoffs are available from the Jungle site, but that's not the direction I wanted to go...
Arrived yesterday... A quality tool...

 

[Tomstir]

Took a month to show up but this is my gift to me.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QHQEPE?tag=atomicindus08-20

A while ago I was looking (again) into purchasing this.... I think there were two options with different number of pieces...maybe others can chime in with more info?...the price had been going up and I was feeling like I missed the out.........but when I saw they were no longer USA made.....I gave up....Did you get this from the link?...Says china...........your pic appears to be made in USA!!

 

[pcrov]

A while ago I was looking (again) into purchasing this.... I think there were two options with different number of pieces...maybe others can chime in with more info?...the price had been going up and I was feeling like I missed the out.........but when I saw they were no longer USA made.....I gave up....Did you get this from the link?...Says china...........your pic appears to be made in USA!!

Yeah, I got it from the link I posted. It say china on amazon but usa on the insert. I'd guess usa since amazon listings are often wrong in many ways but who knows. The 971 kit has 48 pieces the 972 kit has 40. They hover around the same price.

So far I've just put the M10-1.25 die to work but man does it feel like magic. Nuts are hand threading on bolts that took wrenches and effort prior, and it's not adding a ton of slop in the process. 10/10 chef's kiss.

 

[Fly Fishing Rick]

I've read several places that these Bahco adjustable wrenches are the same ones produced for Snap-on, just with a bit less time spent on fit and finish. I can't confirm whether it's true or not, but this is the smoothest nicest feeling one I've ever owned, by a lot. I've never had a single positive experience with an adjustable wrench before, hopefully this one makes me feel differently about them. I considered a plier wrench but I don't think one is really a direct replacement for the other and this option cost 1/2 as much as a quality plier wrench, so I'm putting it in my maintenance bag and giving it a shot.

 

[Pinne]

Klein automatic wire stripper and a crimper for insulated connectors. I wish I could justify $100+ for one of the Knipex strippers but the Kleins will likely do everything I need.




I also got this BMW fuel injector tool from Precision Raceworks. It's a mini slide hammer to thread on and pull the injectors. It also has some fittings to help install and compress replacement o-rings / gaskets for the injectors.

 

[CoThG]

Local Cat dealer had a 40% off Cyber Monday sale.
Total was $262.16

Here is the breakdown:
3 piece plier set: regular price $99.36 sale price $59.62
6 piece screwdriver set: regular price $57.71 sale price $34.63
3/8 6 pt. metric shallow: regular price $52.32 sale price $31.39
3/8 12 pt. metric shallow: regular price $ 51.38 sale price $30.83
3/8 12 pt. metric deep: regular price $ 65.01 sale price $39.01
1/4 6 pt. metric shallow: regular price $66.38 sale price $39.83
1/4 6 pt. metric deep: regular price $44.75 sale price $26.85

 

[Motorman55]

Picked up the HF Hercules Plung Router during the Black Friday Sale @ $99.00. My first impression is that its a lot of tool for the money. Looks and feels robust and should easily handle my DIY projects. Now, will it last long term compared to other major brands, I don't know but if lasts thru the next couple of projects we have planned I'll be more then happy and consider it money well spent.

For those interested in purchasing one, here's a pic of what you get in the box.

 

[Squankum]

Saw this in this thread a week or so ago. Came in yesterday.

Link, please?

 

[Squankum]

I also got this BMW fuel injector tool from Precision Raceworks. It's a mini slide hammer to thread on and pull the injectors.

This got my attention! EFI injectors or Bosch K type mechanical injectors?

 

[Fly Fishing Rick]

Klein automatic wire stripper and a crimper for insulated connectors. I wish I could justify $100+ for one of the Knipex strippers but the Kleins will likely do everything I need.




I also got this BMW fuel injector tool from Precision Raceworks. It's a mini slide hammer to thread on and pull the injectors. It also has some fittings to help install and compress replacement o-rings / gaskets for the injectors.

I used to carry automatic strippers but they are large and heavy so now I only carry my Ideal 45-665 strippers unless I have a job where I know I'll be stripping dozens of wires... I've never used a pair that just grab the jacketing before though, just the type with the gauged holes that actually cut the jacket and pull it off in one motion. Do the "bladeless" ones that just grab the jacket actually do a nice job?

 

[TheRealZeus]

Thi guy recommends against chainsaws..
So, WTH does he even know.

 

[CoThG]

Local Cat dealer had a 40% off Cyber Monday sale.
Total was $262.16
One thing I did notice is that the Snap-On "S" on the rivet of the slip joint pliers has been removed.

Here is the breakdown:
3 piece plier set: regular price $99.36 sale price $59.62
6 piece screwdriver set: regular price $57.71 sale price $34.63
3/8 6 pt. metric shallow: regular price $52.32 sale price $31.39
3/8 12 pt. metric shallow: regular price $ 51.38 sale price $30.83
3/8 12 pt. metric deep: regular price $ 65.01 sale price $39.01
1/4 6 pt. metric shallow: regular price $66.38 sale price $39.83
1/4 6 pt. metric deep: regular price $44.75 sale price $26.85

Did some quick math and these tools retail on the Snap-On website for approximately $1942...

 

[SouthernIllinois]

Norseman Vortex-Point Mechanics length 29 piece drill bit set. Bought them from the Coremark Metals website - not off the tool truck.

From the Snap-On Man, Astro Onyx tilt head cutoff tool, Green Mini Magnet Pad, 7/16, 9/16 and 13mm reversible ratcheting wrenches.

Warrantied a T25 bit I bought in 1988 in my bodywork days.

 

[Pinne]

This got my attention! EFI injectors or Bosch K type mechanical injectors?

Here's a link to the tool: https://precisionraceworks.com/products/bmw-n54-direct-injector-tool

This tool is specifically for the injectors found in the N54, N63, and N74 engines. I'm not sure if the threads will fit others.

 

[Squankum]

Here's a link to the tool: https://precisionraceworks.com/products/bmw-n54-direct-injector-tool

This tool is specifically for the injectors found in the N54, N63, and N74 engines. I'm not sure if the threads will fit others.

Ohhh! Those kind of injectors! I've got something like that in my garage, too, but N55, which I believe is a slightly more economical direct injection system.

 

[ChefRex]

I told my Snap On guy I want one of his first that he gets of the adjustable ones. I think that's gonna be a killer.

He never bothered to show me

Link, please?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9N3GWGV?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[LanceMc]

Picked up a Dewalt hand saw and a wood chisel at Ace Hardware today. These are also for my son's tool kit.

The saw was made in Denmark! I was very surprised about that.

 

[LanceMc]

LOL
It's getting to quite a bit more than 8 things now!

Make sure to point out that the painter's tool is known as a "5 in 1" so technically you're giving him 8 tools!

 

[Pexto]

I've been working on a house with a concrete garage, and I foresee lots of drilled anchors in the walls once I get around to putting up shelving. And there was a bunch of old mortar on the floor, left over from a pony wall for an oil tank before the place was converted to propane. Hard to believe the previous owner put up with that mortar on the floor for ten years, right where you get out of your car in the garage.

So an SDS drill seemed appropriate, and it seems like used corded ones go for short money these days. With a Black Friday special on a bit set I'm in business for $110 total. Made short work of the mortar; floor is nice and smooth now. The spray bottle was great for keeping the dust down!

 

[Fly Fishing Rick]

Thi guy recommends against chainsaws..
So, WTH does he even know.

Looks like that style of automatics work better than I expected. Wonder how they do with stranded wire =P

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Dad had a flat tire on his big truck today. Bad valve core. Came all the way off the rim. Got this bottle jack to raise it up. Tried three times to get it aired up and twice it slipped off this jack so dads going to just have the tire guy come do it and pay the $300 but he did tell me I could keep the jack lol. I told him save the $300 and get a 4 ton floor jack and we will bring that and our 3 ton and our large jack stands and try it again. We had it starting to seal then the jack slipped off. Thankfully we were just airing the tire up and not underneath of it. I wouldn’t be underneath of it without a jack stand anyway. I personally would have gotten a bigger bottle jack than this one because the cylinder is only about a couple inches around but that’s just me.

 

[Squankum]

Looks like that style of automatics work better than I expected. Wonder how they do with stranded wire =P

Here's Adam Savage (Mythbusters) talking about his love for automatic wire strippers, and his Knipex strippers:

(cued up)

 

[Jgaz]

Dad had a flat tire on his big truck today. Bad valve core. Came all the way off the rim. Got this bottle jack to raise it up. Tried three times to get it aired up and twice it slipped off this jack so dads going to just have the tire guy come do it and pay the $300 but he did tell me I could keep the jack lol. I told him save the $300 and get a 4 ton floor jack and we will bring that and our 3 ton and our large jack stands and try it again. We had it starting to seal then the jack slipped off. Thankfully we were just airing the tire up and not underneath of it. I wouldn’t be underneath of it without a jack stand anyway. I personally would have gotten a bigger bottle jack than this one because the cylinder is only about a couple inches around but that’s just me.

Blake,
If you are going to keep the bottle jack and use it for vehicle (or other) work you need some accessories to help keep you safe and to make the jack more useful.

Use this site for ideas:

Jack Accessories | Bottle Jack

We've all seen it; a shaky pile of mismatched blocks stacked together just to get a bottle jack close enough to the load. Why risk your health and safety just to perform a simple maintenance operation? That's where Safe Jack comes in! Safe Jack’s Bottle Jack Extensions are designed to provide...

safejacks.com

Great products I’m sure, but expensive.

My “reversed engineered” kit for my 40 year old 6 ton.

My improved base plate from the original kit.


Just one example of my friend “Jack” lending a helping hand

Just be smart and stay safe. You seem like a good kid.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

Blake,
If you are going to keep the bottle jack and use it for vehicle (or other) work you need some accessories to help keep you safe and to make the jack more useful.

Use this site for ideas:

Jack Accessories | Bottle Jack

We've all seen it; a shaky pile of mismatched blocks stacked together just to get a bottle jack close enough to the load. Why risk your health and safety just to perform a simple maintenance operation? That's where Safe Jack comes in! Safe Jack’s Bottle Jack Extensions are designed to provide...

safejacks.com

Great products I’m sure, but expensive.

My “reversed engineered” kit for my 40 year old 6 ton.

My improved base plate from the original kit.


Just one example of my friend “Jack” lending a helping hand

Just be smart and stay safe. You seem like a good kid.

Yeah the tire shops he called told him by any means don’t lift it with anything except a bottle jack because that’s what they used. I thought that was crazy. That’s definitely a good idea on that and I like your setup on it. It will probably end up being like the other bottle jack we have and sit for 20 years lol. I just can’t bring myself to return things so I keep everything.

 

[rockinacummins]

Link, please?

Absolutely!

JEUCLEL 1/2" Drive Oil Filter... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D9N3GWGV?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Semi-hole mechanic]

Pulling the axle nut to change brakes on an Edge?

IIRC it had a bearing going out or he thought was going out and wasn’t pulling the front brakes off twice. It was 15 years ago and I ve slept a couple times since then.

 

[Semi-hole mechanic]

Spring clamp pliers...a bit expensive,$60,i paid $45 with some price reduction. Local car parts store only carry hazet and knipex tools,wish they had knipex clamp pliers,but in stock they had hazet only.

I bought a cheap pair off of Amazon and they make spring clamps so much more manageable than when using a pair of channellocks. I bought a cheap pair because I may use them once a year if that. I’d definitely spring for a better set if I was using them a lot more often.

 

[Jure]

I bought a cheap pair off of Amazon and they make spring clamps so much more manageable than when using a pair of channellocks. I bought a cheap pair because I may use them once a year if that. I’d definitely spring for a better set if I was using them a lot more often.

Yea,i found out that they like to slip when using a regular pliers. With 6 carbed bikes that are loaded with spring clamps i think spending $50 on clamp pliers was the right thing to do lol.

 

[Squankum]

IIRC it had a bearing going out or he thought was going out and wasn’t pulling the front brakes off twice. It was 15 years ago and I ve slept a couple times since then.

Ah. That makes sense. In some modern Fords (Transit) replacing a rotor actually gets this silly, why they did that, I cannot say.

 

[Callelle]

Not the greatest use of it's benefits, but I've been wanting one of these M18 boom lights ever since they came out. The magnets aren't quite as strong as I was hoping (at least through the rubber boot) and the joints are really stiff, but I'm still really pleased with it.

 

[dscheidt]

Ah. That makes sense. In more modern Fords (Transit) replacing a rotor actually gets this silly, why they did that, I cannot say.

Rotor behind hub brakes were more common in the past. There are some supposed advantages to them, one of which is it reduces how far out the brake assembly is from where it pivots on the suspension. That shorter lever arm reduces suspension forces, which can save weight and simpler lighter parts probably cost less. There are some other claimed benefits, but I think modern designs of rotor in front solve most of them.

 

[lund]

Yeah the tire shops he called told him by any means don’t lift it with anything except a bottle jack because that’s what they used. I thought that was crazy. That’s definitely a good idea on that and I like your setup on it. It will probably end up being like the other bottle jack we have and sit for 20 years lol. I just can’t bring myself to return things so I keep everything.

The advice you received on accessories to make the lifting safer was good. However, you do not need to go to such lengths and expense to make/fab or buy metal spacers and anchors for improved safety. You can get some lengths of heavy beams, say 4"x4" and make cribbing and cut in spots to hold better if/when needed. It is much easier to work with wood and it should be plenty strong in these contexts (solid wood can take huge compressive loads).

Never ever never get under a vehicle on a hydraulic jack. Use sufficiently large and heavy jack stands and/or heavy cribbing. I usually throw tires under key points with some wood cribbing stacked on them as a backups so there is not a single point of failure leading to me getting crushed underneath. High with narrow base jacks or stands are NOT wise to hold a load that you are working on.

Be safe. Dumping a heavy car or truck on you is not something you will walk away from! This is something that you want to be on the side of cautious. I say this as a non-risk adverse person that goes mountain and ice climbing, surfing, back-country skiing, etc. I would add be especially careful of jacking a vehicle on any slope or infirm ground. It is much easier to destabilize and dump it than one might naively think.

 

[TheRealZeus]

May need a spatula.

 

[moemc]

I used to carry automatic strippers but they are large and heavy so now I only carry my Ideal 45-665 strippers unless I have a job where I know I'll be stripping dozens of wires... I've never used a pair that just grab the jacketing before though, just the type with the gauged holes that actually cut the jacket and pull it off in one motion. Do the "bladeless" ones that just grab the jacket actually do a nice job?

They work well on softer insulations. They aren't a precision cut of the insulation, but a tear. Clean enough though even for professional work. They do not hurt the conductor any in my experience. But if its aerospace-grade wire, forget it, they just slide and scratch it. I have flat bladed autos from Knipex, Rennsteig, and normal box store stuff, and none of them can handle PTFE or ETFE insulation, nor thicker TXL. Gotta go Ideal Stripmaster Custom blades and diamond grippers for when you want to get serious with auto strippers.

Edit: I wanted to add, even though I do all my own home and commercial wiring, somehow I have just never actually tried any auto strippers on THHN. My everyday wiring work is in automotive/race stuff, and that's where my experience above lays. Now I am curious to try them on the PVC/Nylon jacket of THHN.

 

[ebj]

The generator / alternator on my JD 330 Garden tractor has been having spotty issues charging the battery...
I suspect the main terminal connector block may have some corrosion on the spade connectors...
I ordered up the WURTH Diamond Grip terminal cleaner... Not cheap, but seemingly well made...
Cheaper knockoffs are available from the Jungle site, but that's not the direction I wanted to go...
Arrived yesterday... A quality tool...

Do you have a link to where to buy one? I checked the Wurth site and it's not the same tool.

 

[Fly Fishing Rick]

Expecting a few tools but apparently they're arriving one at a time today... haha. Delivery one of the day brought me this little gem, that's replacing the 2 regular stubbies I carry in my maintenance bag. It's not cheap but it's also the best stubby I've ever held in my hands. I was super tempted by their ratcheting version but I'm not prepared to pay $80 for a stubby driver, no matter how nice. You can get the standard version of this one with no bits or bit storage a bit cheaper, but I like the bit storage in my drivers that have it and I've heard great things about PB Swiss bits and figured this would be a great way to check some out. The magnetic bit retention in this thing is the strongest I've ever seen in any driver before, and that's all that holds the bits in There's no other type of retention device of any kind, but I don't think it'll ever be needed. It's not really much if any smaller than either of my dedicated stubbies, but it is also 6 stubbies in one and far more comfortable in the hand than either of my others. Haven't got to use it yet but after looking it over and holding it, I'd buy it again.

 

[Kasal]

I just can’t bring myself to return things so I keep everything.

Big words, that's the true spirit of a GJ.